Random Adventures
by Before the Sun Sets
Summary: I decided to consolidate all the Random Adventures stories written by Tiger and I. So here they are, as chapters rather than individual stories.
1. Meet Valin and friends

Disclaimer: Neither me nor my friend own Cloud, Tifa, Axel, Roxas, Demyx or the "If you were gay" song. Or Russa Nodrey from Redwall. Or the macaroni song or "I'll make a man out of you" from Mulan.

Okeydokey, this is a random story that me and my friend (who shall henceforth be known as Tiger) wrote at her house. We were very bored. It has some Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts stuff, and a little dash of Redwall. Readers of my other stories may recognize Muda from my story "The Fall". However, in this one, she is much more happy-go-lucky and random.

Have fun!

Oh, um, italics mean one of us (the authoresses) is speaking, and bold is me, Russa. Therefore, not bold is Tiger. And if it's not in italics, it is actually part of the story.

WARNING: This story has very little plot.

* * *

_Alrighty, sooo… first of all we need a setting. A setting is kinda important in a story after all. Any ideas?_

**_Nope._**

_How about some nonexistent town in the middle of somewhere?_

**_Whatever._**

_With lots of people, but everyone's in bed cause it's late at night. And it's in the middle of a forest, and stuff._

**_DIE BOX! Okay._**

_Great, we have our setting! Story start?_

**_Sure, why not? Argh! Evil dudes!_**

_For those who are wondering, she's playing "Kingdom Hearts 2" at the moment. Insaneness should be expected throughout this entire story, in character or not. :3_

Character intro's start! These are the main characters. :3

A small boy, he appeared to be around the age of nine or so, sat humming on a bench. He had no shoes or socks, and wore a plain white shirt and normal everyday shorts. His hair was pink, and believe it or not that is its natural color. His eyes where light blue, near one of his eyes was a 'y' shaped marking that same color. He also wore a headband, the cloth for it had a zigzag pattern of orange on yellow colors. Right in front of his forehead, held by the headband, was a crystal that shone with the magic of fire and ice.

**_I'm having trouble thinking of what character to bring in… lemme think for a moment… (three days later) still thinking… (two weeks later) urgh…(one year later) …_**

_Russa, are you dead? (pokes)_

**_RAWR! No pokey! Uhm… M'kay I think I have one. Lookey down… right there… you know you want to!_**

**A dark figure lurked in the shadows. If the occasional drunk passersby had night-vision, they would have been able to see that she was humanoid, but covered from head to toe in sleek black feathers. Two huge feathered wings of the same color spread out behind her body. Her fingers ended in claws, and her feet were like a hawk's.**

Valin, the name of the young boy, hummed happily as he kicked his feet back and forth. So what if it was the dead of winter, and this town is the worst place for someone like him to be, he was as happy and care free as always.

For those now wondering, the town is dangerous because the townsfolk hate the magical creatures in the surrounding woods and often hire bounty hunters to patrol the streets at night to keep the creatures away from their homes.

**Muda, the shadowperson, had heard that the people of this town hated all magical creatures. This only reinforced her natural mistrust of humans. After all, they had hunted her kind almost to extinction hundreds of years ago. Ever since, all shadowpeople avoided human civilization at all times, often living in caves in the mountains or swamps. She had been lurking in the alley all day, hiding away from the scorching sunlight. The sun was death incarnate to shadowpeople.**

**Suddenly, Muda noticed a strange pink-haired boy sitting on a bench across the street. She decided to keep an eye on him; he didn't seem like a normal human.**

Valin looked skyward, there had been talk of an approaching blizzard. The wind blew hard suddenly as snow started to fall. He stood up, bare feet on the cold stone ground, and started looking for a shelter of some kind, any would do.

**Muda watched warily as the boy approached. He seemed harmless enough, but then again, so did most humans. She melted back into the darkness, just to be safe.**

Valin looked curiously into the alley, he thought he could see something there… then he heard the sound of two men talking, walking towards this street. They sounded like they here just chatting but…

Valin smiled, he had an idea to mess with their heads. That was always fun. He ran into the ally, backwards so he could keep an eye out for the approaching people.

**Muda kept well back as the strange boy ran into the alley. She heard the men's footsteps and figured he must be hiding from them, for one reason or another. She decided to keep back and watch for now.**

Valin pulled a slingshot out of his pocket, somehow. Even though the slingshot didn't look like it could fit in the pocket. He then pulled out a small stone, pink in color. He shot it just above the passerby's heads, it exploded like a firecracker right above them. The two men, both bounty hunters patrolling the streets, ducked in cover. They then stood up, looked around, and ran off.

"Obviously those two are no threat, most hunters would try to find the source of that kind of explosion. Typical." The boy spoke to himself, as he stuffed the slingshot back into his pocket.

**Muda shook with silent laughter at the boy's prank. She wasn't as worried about him discovering her anymore, as a normal human couldn't have pulled off a magical explosion like that.**

But then Valin heard the two hunters coming back, this time with a larger group. "Uh-oh" Valin took a few more steps back, then simply took one of his exploding stones out of his pocket and rolled it to the center of the group, who where looking skyward for the source of another explosion. When that stone went off they broke out into a panic, Valin smiled and watched, humans are so easy to fool. Well, the guys at least.

**Muda rolled around in the shadows, putting all her energy into not laughing out loud. This boy was definitely not human! Humans couldn't pull off such funny pranks!**

Valin laughed as the men fled once again, one had managed to get his pants caught on fire. That's what you get for carrying around a lit torch all the time. Those stones Valin had used could be deadly if he wanted them to, or they could just explode and look nice/ scare grown men to flee.

**Muda noticed that one of the men had been stupid enough to catch his pants on fire. This only made her laugh harder. A small giggle escaped her lips, and soon she was laughing loudly.**

Valin turned around sharply, he had no idea someone else was here in the alley!

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

He conjured up a small fireball, pink in color that lit up the area. The flame was both hot and cold to the touch. Hmmm… by touching it should you get treatment for a burn or frostbite?

**Muda shrank back from the flame. She said softly, "If you want me to show myself, put out the flame."**

Valin tossed the fireball over his shoulder. It landed on a hunter that had been oblivious to the other events. The hunter ran around in circles, head and clothing on fire.

"Whoops. My bad."

**Muda chuckled, making no effort to be silent now that the boy knew she was around. She snapped her fingers, instantly smothering the fire.**

Valin watched as the hunter glanced around before fleeing, after all, the blizzard was still coming. Valin turned back around, facing the shadows. He held out his had, a habit he picked up for welcoming from humans. "My name's Valin, I'm a surviving Ultima elemental. I'm in human form now, in my true form I trip almost every time I take a step. Not exaggerating." He had a big smile on his face.

**Muda stepped out of the deep shadows so that Valin could see her. She shook the proffered hand, "I am Muda, a shadowperson. We were almost wiped out by the humans hundreds of years ago, so we're not exactly a common sight. This is my true form. It's also as close to human as I'm ever going to get."**

"Really? Lot's of elementals where killed during that time too. The capital of the ultima elementals just kinda blew up about 90 years ago, almost none survived." Valin now looked sad, recalling that day. "I lost my best friend… and my family as well." Valin was so cheerful so that his true feelings, those of sadness ect., where hidden.

**"The same happened to me… my husband, my children, my home… all gone." Muda shuffled her feet, the memory making her uncomfortable.**

_PICKLED MUFFIN COOKIES OF DOOM!_

**_Well you know what- you know what- AMERICAN HISTORY!!! All hail the POPTART of DOOM!_**

_Muffincookies beat poptarts hands down. _

"… Did you just hear something random and meant to break the moment?"

**_Heehee you bet! I ran out of inspiration anyways… DEAL WITH IT! I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!!_**

**Muda nodded, looking incredibly confused, "I heard it too. Darn those authoresses!"**

"Well, we should probly stop breaking the fourth wall before it completely shatters." Valin replied, crossing his arms.

After a huge gust of wind almost knocked him over, Valin remembered that there was still a blizzard. And, well, the snow was already about an inch deep. And he was barefoot, talk about oblivious.

"Oh, we should find some shelter, and soon too." Valin almost fell again, "Unless ,of course, we want to freeze."

**Muda grinned sheepishly, "I didn't notice. My kind lives in deep mountain caves. It's always cold there. Here, come with me. I'll show you where I've been staying." She held out a hand to the disguised elemental.**

"Really? I normally don't care about the cold," Valin did fall over, as well as almost got buried. He stood back up, brushing off the snow. "Actually, there are some people in this town that welcome non-humans. They try to keep a low profile on that though, but they know me." Valin smiled, and once again almost fell over. "They always welcome new guest! Follow me!"

Valin made his way to the edge of the alley, looked both ways, then motioned for Muda to follow. He pushed up on his headband as it fell back over his eyes. Again.

**Muda hesitated, then followed behind him. She stuck to the shadows on either side of the road, not willing to take any chances.**

"We're here." Valin whispered, he knocked on the door twice, then kicked it so hard it almost broke.

As Valin rubbed his splintered foot, the door opened. Valin turned, a huge smile appeared on his face, and he ran in.

"Hi Cloud!" Valin yelled out, tackle-hugging Cloud, who didn't really seem to want any sort of physical contact of any kind. Valin released Cloud from the hug, and turned toward Muda. "I brought a new friend with me! Come on in Muda, it's safe!"

**Muda stayed where she was for a moment, laughing silently when Cloud looked confused. "Who's Muda?"**

"Muda, come on. Stop foolin around!" Valin said as he yanked Muda out from hiding. Valin was stronger than he looked. "This is Muda."

**Muda grinned at Cloud, "Thaaaaat's me!" Cloud looked her up and down, "What are you?" Muda, feeling hyper (AN: _I'm projecting my current state of mind onto her. SQEE!_), leapt into the air, flew out the door, and started zooming back and forth. She landed on the roof of the house and peered over the edge down at Cloud, who had stepped outside to watch. The shadowperson leapt off the roof, gliding down on a disk of solidified shadows, "I am a shadowperson. One of the last." Cloud simply stared for a moment, then shook his head and walked back inside. Muda glided after him, sitting on her levitating disk, singing, "Let's get down to business; to defeat the Huns. Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons? You're the saddest bunch I ever met, but you can bet before we're through; Mister, I'll make a man out of you…"**

Valin started laughing, and sort of singing along. He didn't know the words, so it was more of a lalala over and over than anything else.

"Isn't anybody going to close the door before we freeze?" Someone else had arrived.

"Hi Tifa!" Valin waved, then closed the door. The door then almost fell on top of Valin. "Oops… uhh… five doors in one week…" Valin jumped up and down, clapping his hands, "A new record! Yay!"

**Muda floated behind and above Valin, watching the proceedings with considerable amusement. Tifa whirled on Valin, "Now what? There's no way to get a new door tonight!" Muda intervened quickly, "I'll fix it." She let the shadows dissipate, settling gently on the ground. The shadowperson picked the door up easily and set it back in its spot. She touched a finger to each hinge. From the contact point, a black spark ran up and down the metal. When Muda moved away, the door was fully repaired. She went and sat in a corner, clawed hands folded in her lap. She swayed back and forth, then burst into song again, "Macaroni macaroni macaroni macaroni; put the cheese in the noodles and what do you get? Macaroni macaroni macaroni macaroni…"**

Valin plopped on the ground, he looked tired. "I'd change into my true form, but I'd end up scratching up the floorboards." He stood back up and turned toward Tifa and Cloud. "The adventuring groups are back again, they seem to be searching the town more and more now. I think I'm going to have to find somewhere else to live for a while. But… I don't want to leave the forest."

Valin looked a little sad, Cloud was the one to speak up first. "There are some ruins, in the forest." Then he turned away.

"The ruins, other creatures live there. Actually, most adventuring groups avoid that place, something about no real reason to." Tifa said as she examined the door, to make sure it wouldn't fall over.

"Great! Then we'll set out tomorrow! Then again, maybe when we can go outside without getting buried… so yea. Tomorrow it is!" Valin cheered happily.

_The next day… somehow all the snow was gone now. Somehow. Actually it's just before sunrise, before the town was active. Valin was munching on some bread as some breakfast. Mmmm… bread._

**_Once, at the beach, me and my little brother ate plain pieces of white bread for like a week when we were hungry cuz… I dunno. Poof-a!_**

**Muda woke in the dark world she called home. It was basically a dark cloud; no light could be seen anywhere. This was where her power was at its greatest. And yet… for some reason, she missed the world of light. Muda flowed up and out of the shadows in the corner of Cloud and Tifa's hut, startling Valin into dropping his bread.**

Valin picked up his bread, brushed off the dust and dirt, and took another bite. "Hi Muda, ready to go? If we don't hurry we may freak out some people in town, which is sadly bad." He said as he munched on his dirty bread.

**Muda nodded, "Right. I can fly ahead and make sure no one is there. You come along however you want."**

Valin finished his bread, then stood up again. "No need, 'sides I can fly to."

Valin began to glow, changing from human to his true form. As he stopped glowing, what he was could be seen. He was taller now, and his eyes hadn't changed at all. He no longer had a shirt, on his chest was a large snowflake pattern that apparently had fire dancing behind it. His headband was more snug now. His face was more dragon-like in shape, his ears where pointy to. He was covered in pink fur to. He still had his pants, but instead of feet he had one huge claw on each foot. He also had a large fox tail, still pink. There was a large beetle shell on his back, hidden under it was a pair of wings. The 'Y' mark was still there. Oh, and a large horn stuck out the back of his head, a large pointy horn. He had only three digits on each hand, all of them where basically just claws. Two fingers and a thumb, each hand, and all claws.

"Ta-da! Oops… sorry about the floor, Tifa."

**Muda chuckled to herself and sent some black sparks through the claws on her feet to fix the floor. She then created a small pad of shadows underneath each of Valin's feet so that he wouldn't scratch the floor anymore. Tifa smiled at her, "Thanks."**

"Right, off we go now! Bye Tifa! Bye Cloud!" Valin waved as he almost fell out the door, Then he took to the sky with his beetle wings buzzing.

**Muda raised a hand in thanks to the two people, then soared off after Valin. She glided along gracefully beside him, flapping her wings every minute or so to keep level.**

Suddenly, Valin felt something rip through one of his wings, he started to fall. Then another, this time he also had pain in his shoulder. He yelled in pain, and began to plummet into the forest. Someone had spotted them, and that someone had arrows.

As Valin hit the ground, he rolled a few times before stopping, the arrow was still in his shoulder.

_Note: Valin can't shapeshift now due to the current physical injuries. He also can't fly, because there is now a hole in his wing._

Valin sat there, gripping his shoulder. He had no idea where he was, he had not been in this area of the forest before. There was the sound of footsteps approaching, fast. This was bad.

**_Russa's Note: You people have no idea how many spelling corrections I've had to do on this._**

**Muda watched in horror as Valin fell from the sky into the forest below. Before she could react, an arrow struck her in the chest. As the wounded shadowperson followed in Valin's (figurative) footsteps, three more arrows thudded into her leg, arm, and wing. She plunged through the foliage, smashing through branches as she went… headfirst.**

**Muda slammed into the unforgiving ground, her vision wavering.**

Valin heard something nearby, but the footsteps where coming closer and closer. The sun had risen, and they where apparently not too far from the town. Valin managed to get up, but he fell over and hit a tree. His head horn got stuck in the tree, stuff like that happened a lot to Valin. The arrow shaft broke, and Valin just felt awful. His body ached all over from the fall, and the arrows, and the tree…

He wouldn't be able to get up in time to escape.

_I am a bad speller, Mwa ha ha. _

**Muda stumbled unsteadily to her feet, fighting to stay conscious. Her torn wing dragged on the ground in an unnatural position. The other wing was bent in a strange place. The shadowperson groaned. She glanced around, but all she could make out was the brown and green of the forest. Muda heard movements off to her left. She turned and stumbled off towards the sounds.**

Valin could hardly see, but the group that had shot him down had arrived. The archer already had the arrow aimed. Valin glanced upward, he had that puppy-dog look in his eyes. He had his right had gripping his left shoulder, which was bleeding. He couldn't really move his left arm, not without pain. His lower lip quivered, and a tear rolled down his cheek. He couldn't be cheery now to hide his pain, the poor kid saw his family die in front of him. And as far as he knew his best friend was also dead, he is mentally scarred for life people!

The archer lowered their bow, and began talking to the other people in the group. Valin couldn't make out the words, he was starting to faint.

**Muda's small energy store ran out quickly. She crashed to the ground, but managed to drag herself along with her uninjured arm. She made it into a clearing, where she could see Valin stuck to a tree. Muda didn't even have time to laugh before she lost her wavering hold on consciousness.**

Valin blinked a few times, he was still in the forest. Muda was there too, and it was very bright out now. His shoulder didn't hurt as much, it was apparently healed by magic. His wing would have to heal on it's own. His head was still stuck in the tree, but someone-or something- had tried to chisel out his horn from the trunk. He still felt a bit dizzy, but other than that, and his head, he was fine. Whoever those people were, they where gone now.

Valin checked his pocket, the ripped part of his wing he kept there was gone. That meant no weapon for him.

**Muda awoke to find black sparks running rampant over her feathers. She knew what that meant; someone had tried to touch her. It was a method of self-defense that kicked in whenever a shadowperson was unconscious. Her wounds ached. She cursed once again the fact that she couldn't heal herself, only others.**

**The shadowperson struggled once more to her feet, noticing that Valin was awake and staring at her. Muda ignored him for the moment and yanked the arrows out of her leg and arm. She left the shaft in her chest be; it would surely kill her if she tried to pull it out without herbs and bandages ready.**

**Muda limped off around the edge of the clearing, searching for herbs and dragging her wings along the ground.**

_Wow… ten pages already… Splee:3_

Valin started to attempt to free himself from the tree, without success. His left arm hurt when he moved it, and try as he might the tree and it's sap would not let go. Stupid evil tree.

**Muda searched for a little while more, then gave up. She limped painfully over to stand in front of Valin.**

"Hi, Muda." Valin greeted her, paying attention mostly to getting unstuck. Still no luck. He tried to stand up and pull, still nothing. "Ummm… a little help if possible?"

**Muda nodded, "I don't have much strength, but I'll try." She grabbed Valin's outstretched uninjured arm with her own uninjured arm and strained backwards.**

They didn't have much luck at all, in fact the sight of them trying to get Valin's head unstuck was pure hilarity to watch. Somebody chuckled in a how-pitiful-you-look way nearby.

**Muda immediately let go and spun around. One of her wingtips whacked Valin across the face, making their unseen observer laugh harder. The shadowperson frowned and called out, "Show yourself!"**

**From the bushes across the clearing, a man dressed in a dark, full-length cloak stepped out. He threw back his hood, revealing fire-red hair and green eyes. A small upside-down teardrop-shaped red mark was under each eye. Muda glared at him as the man fell over laughing, "And who exactly are you?" She waited impatiently while the man composed himself. He stood up, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, "Name's Axel. Got it memorized?"**

Then Valin fell forward, finally unstuck, and also fell sideways. He landed with a wudd. "I'm okay. I think. I'm in pain." Valin managed to get back up, he was wobbly on his feet, but that was normal. He was also a slow walker on foot in his true form, and couldn't really run. He fell down a lot to.

Valin turned, and saw the newcomer. He smiled and waved, with his good arm of course. "Hiiiii person!"

**Axel stared at him for a moment, "…" Muda growled in exasperation, "Alright, Axel, what do you want?"**

"Muda, are you just grumpy 'cause you're hurt?" Valin said, actually a bit concerned. Valin didn't move, not yet, he would fall over anyway. Valin called out to Axel again, "Hey, what's with the face marks? Are you a shapeshifter or somethin'?" Then, Valin did fall. This time from leaning to far, he landed mostly on his face. He decided he would just sit there, and not stand.

**Muda was about to respond when the sun burned through the last of the morning fog. It peeked out from behind a cloud, burning into her skin. She shrieked in pain and limped hurriedly towards the shade of a nearby tree. Once out of the direct sunlight, Muda allowed her legs to give out. She sank to the ground and lost consciousness once again.**

"… Muda? Muda, Muda are you alright?" Valin stood up, thought for a moment, then tried to move Muda out of the clearing, he didn't care how much it hurt as he tried. "Hey, instead of just standing there you could help!" Valin had a more serious, grown-up look on his face.

_Valin is, in truth, very powerful in his abilities. Also very skilled, and considering his age that's some pretty advanced stuff for him. Valin is 100 years old, in elemental terms that is a child._

**Axel shrugged, "Sure." He grabbed Muda by the uninjured arm and dragged her as carefully as he could out of the clearing and into the deep underbrush. He dropped her limp arm and glanced at Valin, "And?"**

"Huh? Oh, thanks for helping." Valin didn't offer to shake hands, most people wouldn't anyway. "You didn't answer me before, what's with those marks on your face? Are you a shapeshifter or something?" Valin sat down before he fell again. He perked up his ears a bit, just the sound of some person walking along the road… actually now Valin could tell where he was now that it wasn't so dark. After it got darker they could start to go to the ruins.

**Axel stared at the strange creature, "I'm a member of Organization XIII."**

"Organization what? Never heard of it. I'm Valin, ummm… nice to meet you?" Valin looked over at Muda, "Muda… are you okay now? Please wake up."

_Valin doesn't want to loose any more friends, it would make him sad._

**Axel walked over to the fallen shadowperson, "She's hurt pretty bad. I'm no healer; my talents lies in destroying things. Usually in humongous fiery explosions. This chest wound needs a real healer."**

**_Gotta love huge fiery explosions!!! And I quote: "There is no problem that cannot be solved with the proper placement of high explosives". Or something like that…_**

"I like fiery explosions, they look neat. I have fire magic, I'm part fire elemental after all." With that Valin created a pink fireball, it will always be pink… he can't change that, he started tossing it from hand to hand.

_This is page 13, unfortunately page 13 was eaten by the chinchillas. This is actually page 14. Thank you for reading, now back to the story._

**Axel grinned mischievously, "That? That's nothing! Watch this!" He summoned up his two chakram, spun them until they caught on fire, and sent them spinning through the trees. Luckily, none of the wood caught fire. Axel brought his weapons back and spun them in his hands.**

Valin smiled, "You have no idea how skilled I am, no one does." Valin tossed the fireball skyward, when he caught it, it was a sphere of solid ice. Then he turned it back to fire again. "I'm Valin, also known as The Red Mist." The fireball turned into a globe of swirling pinkish mist "This mist can set fire to anything flammable, and freeze solid that same object all at once." The mist vanished all together, and Valin stood up. "I am one of the few remaining ultima elementals, and I am no more than a mere child. I had to witness my only family die in front of my very eyes, and I could do nothing to help. My best friend I had ever had is dead as well, so I have mastered all there is for me to master. That way, that terrible day will never be repeated… in any world." Valin's eyes seemed to fog up almost, he rarely got so serious. It was hard for him to be happy at the moment.

**Axel remained silent, unsure of what to say.**

**_Sorry, my inspiration just died… :-P yay for Axel!_**

Valin turned to Muda and yelled loudly "Muda, you have to wake up! Please!" His voice lost volume, "I don't want to lose anyone else…" Valin started to cry, "please…wake up…" He fell to his knees, trying to hold back the tears. "wake up…"

**Muda groaned inwardly, fighting her way up from the soothing darkness that was trying to swallow her. She heard yelling, then sobbing. Muda cracked her eyes open. She saw Valin knelt beside her, tears leaking through his tightly closed eyelids. The shadowperson reached up a hand and poked the elemental's shoulder, "Hellooooo!?!?!?"**

Valin opened his eyes. "Muda! You're alive!" He sounded happy, course any happiness of Valin's was in truth no more than a mask for the sad little child he was. But, not all of it was fake now. Valin had made a new friend, he didn't want to loose a friend.

**Muda grinned weakly at him, "Of course. You think a few scratches would keep me down?" She attempted to sit up, but fell back with a gasp. Muda shot a glare in Axel's direction, "Why don't you make yourself useful and help me up?" The redhead shrugged and came over. He draped Muda's good arm over his shoulder and hauled her to her feet. Axel glanced at Valin, "Care to tell me where we're going?"**

Valin nodded, "We were headed for the ruins, just south of here. That way we can be somewhere without the worry of all the adventurers and such running around. It will probably take longer now, though. Neither of us can fly currently, and I'm not exactly fast on my feet." Valin looked down at his feet, those claws made for good self defense at least.

**Axel glanced over at him, "Um… maybe you forgot, but your friend here needs to see a healer. Soon." Muda raised her head long enough to nod weakly, "He's right, Valin. Though I don't know who we could go to anywhere nearby."**

"Well, people around here aren't exactly… welcoming… to our kind. If we go into town, we'd be dead." Valin was silent for a bit, then he apparently got an idea and ran off. He came back with several plants and some torn cloth. "Those people won't miss that laundry too much… the crows flew off with it all the time."

"The only reason I really know how to do this is from personal experience," He worked on sorting out the different plants "I didn't survive some deadly explosion unscathed, after all. Found out that poison ivy is no healing plant the hard way too."

**Muda, half-conscious, felt herself being lowered down to the ground. Some kind of leaf was placed in her mouth and she heard, "Chew." Muda hesitated, then did so. The more she chewed on the leaf, the sleepier she got. Soon, the shadowperson could not fight it off and fell unconscious.**

**Axel watched as Muda's eyes drifted shut, and her body released its tension. He turned to Valin, "Now what?"**

"Bandages. That one leaf will wear off on its own…" After about half an hour of more leaves and bandages, Muda was all bandaged up. "She should wake up soon…" Valin looked at his claws, and wished he hadn't. "There's a river nearby, I'm gonna go wash up." With that Valin walked off again.

**Axel stared after him for a moment, then shrugged and leaned back against a tree trunk. He idly flipped one of his chakram into the air, caught it, flipped it up again…**

When Valin came back, he was drenched. "I fell into the water…" Valin started to sit down, then he heard footsteps. "Well what do you know, more adventurers." Valin froze the ground where the footsteps were coming from, then walked a good distance away.

**Muda woke up feeling very relaxed. She started to sit up, reveling in the fact that her wounds were only a dull ache. She saw Valin freeze a section of the ground, then walk away. Curious, the shadowperson watched.**

"Muda, good you're up. Come this way, it's best we don't stick around." As Valin started walking, his footsteps where clear on the ground. "Hey, Axel, are you coming?"

**Axel shook his head, "Nah, think I'll pass."**

**Muda turned to him, "Thank you for your help." The Nobody nodded silently.**

"Aww… why not? Just to the ruins at least?" Valin had turned in half-stride, and almost fell down again. Almost.

**Axel shrugged and grinned, "I gotta get back. I'm late for my daily session of torturing Demyx." An egg-shape of shadows whirled up and enveloped him, then vanished. Axel was gone.**

Valin looked a bit sad, then he remembered why he was walking off in the first place. "Muda, hurry, we need to go to the ruins!"

**Muda slowly got to her feet. She was an interesting sight, to say the least. Her wings were both swathed in bandages and splints. Her right arm was bound in a sling, and her chest and left leg were completely white with cloth. Yes, quite an interesting sight. The shadowperson limped off after Valin.**

The path Valin kinda found, really wasn't much of a path anymore. It was a road at some point, but it was used so little that it could hardly be seen. It led to the ruins, the sound of people slipping and falling repeatedly on ice was behind them.

**Muda didn't have too much trouble keeping up with him, though her leg started to throb after a couple minutes.**

_I don't think anyone would have much trouble keeping up with Valin, he has two ginormouse claws for feet after all. He's not exactly 'fast'._

"Hey, I think I can see the ruins ahead!" They had made it to the ruins without anything bad happening. Well, besides being shot out of the sky and almost dieing that is. "We can rest inside, c'mon!"

But, when they got inside the ruins they did not find a sanctuary that they had hoped. A trap had been set for them, a energy cage of sorts surrounded them. Touching the beams of energy was very painful too. Valin could recognize the trap-setters.

"Say… I see you got new pants now…" Valin said, sort of jokingly. The person looked angry, and glared at Valin. He had a crossbow in hand, ready to fire. The other members of the group were also there, also aiming their long-range weapons.

**Muda struggled to her feet, but was powerless to do anything. She was simply too tired.**

**Suddenly, Axel and two others, dressed the same way, appeared behind the men. Axel pushed one of them forwards: he had short blonde hair that stood straight up. He was clutching a guitar. The man leapt into the midst of the hunters and burst into song, "If you were gay, that'd be okay. I mean, cause hey, I'd like you anyway. Because you see…"**

**_Despite Demyx having a guitar, he cannot sing. Quite the contrary. That was Axel's plan. They're wearing earplugs._**

**The hunters screamed in fear and fled from Demyx's horrible voice. Meanwhile, Axel and the other guy were rolling on the ground, laughing hysterically.**

**_Yayz for hysterical laughing! SQUEEE!!!_**

Valin gripped his burning ears, he could not stand this any longer. He blindly threw a fireball, and Demyx's clothing caught fire. "Oops… uh…"

**Demyx stopped singing and started screaming.**

**_They're not that different, just to let you know._**

**He ran in circles around the room, screaming in terror and wildly waving his guitar. Axel, having just recovered from his previous laughing fit, was forced to duck as the heavy instrument whizzed by his head. He watched Demyx for a moment, then burst out laughing again. Demyx didn't seem to notice. He continued running wildly, yelling, "Ah! I'm on fire! Ah! It burns us! Argh! Ouch!"**

**_He continues yelling the same thing over and over… get over it._**

"Hey… um… Is he gonna be alright?" Valin yelled across the room at Axel, loudly.

**The redhead managed to stifle his hysterical laughter long enough to choke out, "Yeah. He's just so stupid he forgot he controls water."**

**Demyx stopped dead, "Oh, yeah." He summoned up a water clone. It threw itself onto him, dousing the flames. He smiled, "That's better."**

**Axel flicked a finger, sending a spark onto the hem of Demyx's cloak, "Uh, your clone missed a spot." Demyx freaked out again and started running around and screaming again.**

**Axel smacked his forehead and teleported Demyx away.**

**_Muda is laughing hysterically at this time, just to let you know._**

"Whoa, where did you send him?" Valin was sort-of leaning forward. He was fooling around with one of his fire-cracker things.

**Axel grinned, "The ocean. Before you ask, he'll be fine. Probably. Though he's pretty stupid… What do you think, Roxas?"**

**The other guy stood up, finally able to get control of his laughter, "Uh… Who cares?"**

**_Demyx is drowning in five-inch deep water at this time, surrounded by sharks. Nurse sharks. Needless to say, he's terrified and… well, drowning. And screaming. Loud._**

**Axel waved goodbye jokingly to Muda and Valin, "See ya!" He and Roxas vanished in egg-shaped shadow… things.**

Valin also waved goodbye, but after they were gone he took notice that, well, they were still trapped in this cage. With no way out, and stuff. "No, wait, come back! We're still trapped!"

**Suddenly, a giant squirrel appeared in front of the cage, "Hi guys!" Muda stared at her, "And you are…?" The squirrel laughed, "I'm one of the many ways one of the authoresses manifests herself in her stories. In other words, I'm one of her muses. My name's Russa. I came to help you guys out."**

**Muda shook her head, "You're not supposed to be here! There are no giant squirrels in this story!"**

**Russa stamped her foot and chattered, "Darn! You noticed…" She disappeared in a puff of random logic.**

_Yay! (wudd) I fell down… owch._

"Wait, how do we get out?!?!" Valin yelled.

_Then the cage suddenly fell apart because somebody chose not to follow the directions. Yay!_

Valin looked around at the rubble. "Thank-you… now what? Is this story over now?"

**_Yep, this random story is finished. Now I feel like going back and beating Halloweentown… YAY SQUEES!... We need to make our characters less observant. I wanted to stay a while (pouts)._**


	2. Fiasco in the Castle

Disclaimer: Neither of us owns Kingdom Hearts or anything remotely recognizable. Valin belongs to Tiger.

And in this chapter, bold is Tiger and un-bold is me, Russa. Oh, and Tiger says "Yay for chain reactions!"

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**_Hi people, I'm Tiger and I'm helping to make another story again! Yayness! For those who have read the last story I helped with, you probly know I can be random. I'm going to use Valin again, because Valin is Valin._**

_Yeah… I'm Russa, and I'm gonna use Shade. Or not. She has another name, but you have to read DotK if you wanna see what it is._

_**DotK?**_

_It stands for Dragon of the Kagonesti. It's a Dragonlance story I wrote that NO ONE HAS REVIEWED… grr._

_**No one has reviewed our last story either, then again it's kinda long… and hasn't been up for that long… I LIKE CHEESE!!!**_

_I think I'm going to move it to a different category so more people will see it… Maybe. I dunno. _

**_Maybe we should start actually telling the story, before we get a full page of meaningless ranting. I mean, people didn't click the link for meaningless babbling… or did they? Hmmm…_**

_Nah. Well, got any ideas for the setting?_

_**I prefer the forest place, but nah… I think we should start with Organization XIII with the others appearing later… or something. I DON'T KNOW!!! X3**_

_I don't have any ideas either… um…_

_**Well, we can have the setting in the World That Never Was. That is Organization XIII's home, sort of. IT TOOK ME SEVERAL MINUTES TO TYPE THAT LAST LINE! SPLEEE!**_

_Is it in the Castle That Never Was? Or the City that Never Was?_

**_Umm…. the castle. The areas that the org. members stay in when they aren't fooling around in the other worlds. I CAN'T SPELL WORDS CORRECTLY TO SAVE MY LIFE! ARG! STUPID DYSFUNCTIONAL BRAIN!_**

_Sounds good._

**_Part of my brain is dysfunctional, and yet I'm still the smartest person in my math class. To many people take fully functional brains for granted, and that's why we have to have toothpaste. Story start now!_**

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**Valin walked down the hallway, stopping every now and again to push his headband up so that he could actually see. Valin (for those who have no clue who Valin is, I'm going to say what he looks like. He's in human form for those who do know who he is.) had on a plain white shirt that was to big for him, and short pants. He had pink hair; that is his hair's natural color. His eyes were blue in color, as was a y shaped marking on the left side of his face. Valin apeard to be about ten or so years old.**

Zexion walked emoish-ly down the hall, face set in his dead, hopeless stare. He ignored the fact that his hair, as usual, was hanging in his face and obscuring one eye. He figured it added to his emoness.

**(Oh, Valin walks around barefooted all the time. Mainly because he normally doesn't have toes.) Valin, who couldn't see where he was going again because of his headband, collided with the sad-looking Zexion. The crash could be heard all the way down the hallway, it was loud.**

Zexion glared daggers at the little boy, then regained his emo demeanor. "Who are you? What are you doing in our stronghold?" he asked blandly.

**Valin ignored Zexion, for his headband had gone flying upon collision. He was searching around for it frantically, with very little luck.**

Zexion glanced down to find a headband lying in his lap. He picked it up between two fingers and held it out. "Yours?"

**Valin looked over and snatched the headband back. When he put it back on it fell over his eyes.**

Zexion stood up and folded his arms grumpily. "Now, who are you and why are you here?"

**Valin looked up at Zexion as he pushed the headband up again. "My name's Valin, I'm just looking for someone." With that said, Valin started down the hall again.**

_**Quick people, guess who he's looking for! To late, mwa ha ha, now all the cookies are mine… miiiiine I say!**_

Zexion grabbed the boy's shoulder. "I think you should come with me. The Superior would love to have a little talk with you."

**Valin easily jerked out of Zexion's grip, "No, I told you I'm looking for someone. I'd like to find them." Valin started down the hall again, at a slightly faster pace than before. What appeared to be a small bead of some sort fell out of his pocket. The bead was pink in color, a small flame had apparently been drawn on it with a colored pencil. **

Zexion picked up the little stone and stared at it for a moment. He tossed it at Valin, shrugged, and continued his emo stroll in the other direction.

**The sound of a firecracker going off filled the hallway, and Valin could be heard yelling out. He hadn't expected his own trick to backfire on him, then again he had never done that inside either. Now the hallway smelled of smoke, and it was smoky in the hallway to. **

Zexion continued on his way. He didn't really care.

However, Axel, who had been lazing around in his room bored out of his mind (as usual), heard the explosion. Explosions excited the pyromaniac Nobody. Mix an explosion with a bored pyromaniac with control over fire and nothing good can come out of it.

Axel dashed out of his room, wanting very much to find the source of the explosion and, if possible, make it explode again…

**Valin began to cough as he searched for an exit from the hallway, his hair was slightly burned on top now. He managed to find a door, which he used immediately. Now he was in some room, he couldn't really tell what kind or if anyone was in it because his eyes where still blurred from the smoke.**

Axel came to a skidding stop, trying to avoid running into Valin, who had just come through the door in front of him.

He failed.

**Well, let's just say that the door wasn't very sturdy, and that who ever else had come to investigate to explosion was unfortunate enough to be in front of that door. Loud sounds from down the hall, hoorah.**

In other words, Axel and Valin wound up knocking the door down, right on top of Roxas, who had been running to catch Axel before he could blow up the entire castle. Roxas groaned from under the door, the breath squished out of him.

Axel was also winded, but heard the groan and managed to get off the door and pull Valin off as well. This freed Roxas to throw off the door.

Demyx also came running around the corner and tripped over the pile of wheezing bodies. So now there were three Nobodies and a pink-haired boy sprawled all over the floor. This was simply asking for trouble. And they got it.

Larxene came running around as well. She shared Axel's love for explosions, but for a different reason; they were very destructive. However, the Savage Nymph managed to avoid tripping over any of the bodies, only to impale her foot on one of Axel's chakram. She began madly hopping around on her uninjured foot, clutching her injured one and screaming bloody murder.

In turn, the other Organization members came running. All of them either tripped over the steadily growing pile of wheezing Nobodies or fell over laughing until they gasped for breath.

However, Saïx came running from the **other** direction. He avoided the pile, but instead collided at high speeds with Zexion. His emo walk was too slow. He hadn't gotten out of the hall yet. The Luna Diviner was considerably bigger then the Cloaked Schemer, and so both crashed to the ground and slid until they, too, joined the body pile.

Xaldin was one of the two Nobodies who didn't make complete fools of themselves. He had the sense to use his wind to blow the smoke away. Once the complete scene was revealed, however, he couldn't help himself and also fell to the ground laughing hysterically.

After fifteen minutes of this chaos, Xemnas finally made his appearance. He appeared in the air above the pile. The Superior took one look around, shook his head exasperatedly, and vanished in a strange egg-shaped black… thing.

"**Oops…" Valin said as he tried to get free from the pile, with very little success. At this point he did not notice that his headband was gone once again.**

Axel was now at, or very near, the bottom of the pile. Considering Xaldin, Lexaeus, and Saïx were among the Nobodies on top of him, and they were considerably more bulky than any of the others, none of the bottom Nobodies could breathe… at all.

Axel finally got fed up with trying to wriggle out and yelled. "Anyone who's still on top of me in after five seconds is gonna have their cloak set on fire!"

Despite their uncontrollable wheezing, the Nobodies managed to get off within the set time. However, Luxord rolled right under Larxene's feet. The Savage Nymph, who had still been hopping and screaming, tripped over the Gambler of Fate and fell… on top of Axel.

The pyromaniac Nobody shoved the still-screaming Nobody off. He touched a finger to her cloak, which promptly caught fire.

**Valin stood up on his feet, he was a little wobbly but otherwise fine. Valin rubbed his head, which, at this point, was starting to hurt. Valin then became frantic as he discovered that his headband was gone, again. He began to look for it, ignoring the chaos that was going on around him, until he tripped over Larxene.**

_Wow, this is a right mess, isn't it?_

_**Yes it is, mwa ha ha ha h-cough hack cough… bleh… hair down windpipe… cough**_

_Can you guess who has Valin's headband? I'll give you a hint; they won't give it back easily… Yup! It's:_

_**Is it the Muffin Man?**_

_Uh… no… coughcrazycoughrandomcough cough_

Xigbar, who had just managed to get his wind back, noticed that there was something shiny draped across one of his guns. He picked it up and examined it; it was a headband set with a shiny stone.

_**The stone has the colors of fire and ice swirling around inside it, just so you people know.**_

"**Where is it? Where?" Valin mumbled to himself as he stood back up and began searching once more. He fell down almost instantly, slipping on the floor this time. He sat up against the wall and began to cry into his hands.**

**_Valin may appear jolly all the time, but it is a façade. He's actually very sad all the time deep down, the reason for which was given in the last story Valin was in._**

_Yeah, so GO READ IT! AND REVIEW!... pwetty pwease?_

Xigbar stared at the pink-haired boy he had just noticed. Since he had never seen the boy before, the Freeshooter figured the headband probably belonged to him. He held it up to the light, watching it sparkle and wondering whether the boy would notice.

**Valin didn't take notice, actually he didn't even stay in his human form. He changed into his true from as he sobbed, the hair on top of his head went over his eyes now that his headband wasn't there to hold it up anymore.**

_**If you want to know what Valin looks like in his true form READ THE FIRST STORY because I am to lazy to say what he looks like a second time. eye twitch**_

Xigbar stared in disbelief at the boy who was not a boy anymore… now he was… something else. The Freeshooter sent a single shot at him to get his attention.

**Valin, startled, jumped up only to slip on the floor and fall over backwards, scratching the floor and getting the back of his head stuck in the wall at the same time. Now that his head was stuck in the wall, Valin wouldn't be able to change back to his human form until he got, well, unstuck.**

Axel, who had finally gotten his own breath back, noticed Valin had gotten stuck in the wall. He walked over to the elemental. "Hmm… major déjà vu."

**Valin looked over at Axel, he couldn't really turn his head at the moment for reasons you should be able to guess. "Hi Axel! Yeah, um… you'd be surprised how often this happens to me." Valin looked over at Xigbar, and saw that he had his headband. "Hey, give that back!" Valin yelled, apparently very angry, as he tried to get up. He was about to reach into hi pocket to pull out his slingshot and a few more of those exploding beads. **

Axel caught the elemental's wrist. "Hang on, I'll get it." Without waiting for Valin to respond, he reached down and hauled Roxas, who had just rolled into his legs, to his feet.

The pyromaniac Nobody instructed his friend to keep Valin from setting off any more explosions (this done with a sad look; remember, he loves explosions) This done, Axel headed over to where Xigbar was fiddling roughly with the headband, picking his way around the still-wheezing and/or screaming bodies on the floor.

Axel held out his hand for the headband. "Unless you want the entire castle blown to smithereens, I suggest you give me that." he informed Xigbar. The Freeshooter ignored him, trying instead to pry the stone loose from the headband. Hearing a renewed shout of anger from Valin, Axel decided he would have to use force. He kicked the Freeshooter's guns away and pinned the Freeshooter to the wall by the neck with one of his chakram.

_For those who are having trouble picturing this, there is a point of the chakram to either side of Xigbar's neck. The round edge is pressed up against his throat._

Axel lazily spun the other chakram in his free hand. "**Now**, Xigbar." When the Freeshooter hesitated, Axel kicked him in the stomach. Hard. As Xigbar doubled over, wheezing anew, Axel grabbed the headband from the Freeshooter's now-limp hand. He picked his way back over to Valin and handed the elemental his headband.

"**Thanks, Axel. Um… can I have some help? I'm a little stuck." Valin said as he took his headband back and set it on the ground next to him. It wouldn't fit in his pocket.**

Axel turned around and surveyed the mess. Most of the Nobodies had stopped wheezing (and screaming, in Larxene's case) by now, barring Xigbar. Axel knew he would need some help for this, so he called in his best Xemnas voice, "Get your lazy butts over here and help me pull him out from the wall!" The Superior's voice was like magic; all of the Nobodies, including Xigbar (still wheezing slightly), got up instantly and came over.

_For people who are wondering why Axel can imitate Xemnas, here's why: as you probably know, Axel, in all his awesomeness, does not get along well with Xemnas. Many a time has Axel done insulting imitations of the Superior to Roxas and sometimes Demyx. So there you go._

Despite the efforts of twelve fairly strong Nobodies, Valin's horn wouldn't budge.

"**Owowowowowowowow, I think that at this point we are more likely to pull off my arms than anything!" Valin had a good point there. They needed a new plan or something, but then again maybe they wouldn't need one.**

Xemnas suddenly appeared again, off to one side. He glared at the line of Nobodies trying to pull Valin from the wall. They all stared back. Just then, Valin's horn came loose. He fell over into Axel, who fell over into Roxas… etc. You know, the domino effect.

**Valin changed back into his human form before he got back up, to avoid repeating the whole mess. He got back up and put on his headband, which immediately fell over his eyes. **

Xemnas transferred his glare to Valin. "You, newcomer! Leave, now!" Axel sidled in and whispered in Valin's ear, "You really should. Come to the Alley to Between tomorrow; I'll meet you there. That's the Alley to Between. Got it memorized?" He gave Valin a little nudge forwards.

**Valin, who to tell the truth could hardly stay in his human form at the moment, was very tired. He actually didn't know how to even get out of the castle, he had teleported in, technically. Valin didn't have the energy to leave, in short. Valin was dazed at this point, he felt like he would fall over at any given moment. **

Axel, noticing Valin's shoulders drooping a little. He stepped in quickly. "I'll escort him out, Superior." Xemnas nodded, "Do so, Number VIII. As for the rest of you…" Axel didn't hear the rest, as he was already steering Valin through a nearby door.

"**I… don't… feel so good…" Valin started to fall over forward, but he didn't remember ever hitting the ground. And just so you people know, at this point Valin is once again in his true form.**

Axel groaned. "Why me?" He carefully lifted Valin up under the elemental's arms and dragged him in the direction of his room. He just wasn't comfortable with leaving the elemental collapsed outside in the World That Never Was… not with all the Heartless and rogue Nobodies running about.

He dragged Valin in through the door to his room. The pyromaniac Nobody set Valin down, careful to turn his head sideways so the horn wouldn't get stuck in the floor. Axel ran over to his gigantic walk-in closet (_yeah, he has a walk-in closet… deal with it!_) and yanked the door open. He dragged Valin inside to the backmost corner. Axel laid the elemental's head on a balled up cloak, once again careful to keep the horn pointed sideways. He pulled out a spare blanket from one of the shelves and threw it over Valin, covering him up. The blanket was thin enough, he reasoned, that the elemental would be able to breathe.

Axel quickly left his closet, closing the door carefully behind him. He headed off to see what Roxas and Demyx were up to.

**Most likely a few hours later, maybe more than a few, Valin had woken up. He had fallen asleep when he came to. He had enough energy now to retain a human form now, but right now he was just thinking that he's hungry. He changed to human form, and pulled the blanket off of him. He didn't have the slightest clue as to where he was, but it smelled funny.**

Axel had just returned from talking with Roxas. He decided to check on Valin. The sooner the elemental left the castle, the safer for both of their skins.

**Valin had his back turned to the door, he was rubbing the back of his head. He was trying to remember what had happened exactly. He remembered not feeling well, then falling, but nothing after that. **

Axel tapped the elemental on the shoulder. "Come on. We need to get you out of the castle."

**Valin turned around and face Axel. "Right, good point." Valin's stomach grumbled, kinda loudly to. "Hey… is somebody at the door?" Valin was pretty sure that he heard someone knock on the door.**

Axel nodded. "That's Demyx. I stole his sitar… again. Just stay in here for a sec." Axel turned and walked out, shutting the door behind him. He headed over to the entrance to his room and opened the door. Sure enough, there was Demyx, preparing to break down the door. Axel grabbed the stolen sitar from next to the door, tossed it into the Melodious Nocturne's hands, and slammed the door in his face. He headed back in to get Valin.

**Valin's stomach growled again, louder this time. Valin was fairly certain he heard someone ask if there was someone else in there. Valin backed up to the back of the closet, where he knocked over a few cloaks and got tangled up in them.**

Axel opened the door and shoved Demyx away. "No. There's no one else here. Go away!" He slammed the door as Demyx tried to get in. The Melodious Nocturne stumbled back, clutching his bleeding nose. "Fine, fine… whatever." he muttered as he ran off down the hall.

**Valin continued to struggle with the cloth, and he ended up bumping into the wall. This bump was kinda loud, loud enough to wake up anyone who may still be sleeping in the next room over.**

Axel started in surprise when someone pounded on the wall. He heard Saïx's voice. "Whatever you're banging around in there, stop it! I have a horrid headache!" Axel sighed and called, "Sorry! Won't happen again!" He hurried into the closet and yanked Valin free of the cloaks. "Keep quiet!" he hissed.

"**Sorry, I started to panic and…" Valin shook his head. Then his stomach growled again, still loud. **

Axel groaned. "I'll go get some food from the kitchen. Go hide under the bed. I'll be back before too long. Then, I'm getting you out." He turned and left, locking the door behind him.

**Valin ducked under the bed, as he had been told. He did wonder why the doors had locks, I mean really they can just teleport in or something. His stomach growled again, why must it always be so loud. Why? There was more knocking one the door, now what? Axel just left after all. Valin wasn't going to move from under the bed though.**

Axel came back to find Roxas knocking on his door. He quickly stuffed the food into an inner pocket and asked, "What?" Roxas spun around. "Oh, hi Axel. I just wanted to congratulate you on torturing Demyx today. His nose is still bleeding…" Axel grinned, "Yeah…" He watched as Roxas left, then unlocked his door and headed inside.

_The doors have locks for courtesy and kind of as a warning. If someone's door is locked, you probably don't want to know what's going on inside… read the first chapter of Organization Fun and you'll see what I mean._

Axel closed the door behind him, locked it, and poked his head underneath the bed. "Come on out." He handed the elemental the food.

"**Thanks," Valin crawled out from under the bed and began munching on a waffle. Why a waffle? Because everyone likes waffles, you are not allowed to not like the waffle.**

Axel watched in amazement as the food disappeared at an amazing speed down Valin's throat. He chuckled and held out a spare cloak to the boy. "Here, put this on. It'll help keep attention from you."

**Valin, now finished eating, nodded as he took the cloak. It was a little too big for him, and he ended up putting his headband in a pocket he found on the inside of the cloak. He couldn't see anything with the hood up. "It's a little… big… isn't it? Say, um, why do I have to keep such a low profile, anyway?"**

Sighing, Axel reminded him, "You're supposed to be gone already. And don't worry if you can't see. I'll guide you."

"**Oh, alright then. Here, you can have this back then." Valin had changed to his true form now, he was handing Axel the cloak. "Now that I have my energy back, I can just leave the way I came."**

**Valin waved goodbye as he just kind of vanished in a swirl of blue magic. The blue magic was ultima magic, and allowed Valin to go to different worlds and stuff. He would be back some day though, just not anytime soon.**

Axel ran the cloak through his fingers. He found something hard in one of the pockets and took it out. "Oh, no…" he sighed.

…to be continued!

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_We're evil! Evil cliffy! Muhahahahahahaha! Ha! Now you must read the next one! Review! If you know what it is, have a cookie!_

_**Is it a pickle:3**_

_Uh… no… coughduhcough. Anyways, the next one will come… whenever… so keep checking back! See ya!_


	3. A Wild Headband Chase

Disclaimer: We don't own anything. Except Valin. Tiger owns him.**_  
_**

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**_This is a continuation of the last random adventure. It helps if you have already read the first two before reading this one or any others we might make. I am Tiger, FEAR ME AND MY DYSFUNCTIONAL BRAIN!!! I take things literally, by the way. _**

_Yeah… I'm Russa… anyways, here goes nothing…_

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**Valin was standing in front of this ginormous skyscraper, in his human form, just kind of looking at it. Poor Valin had lost his headband, he looked so sad now. It was already raining, but he didn't care. He always felt this sadness deep down when he had his headband, but now that it was gone he was unable to hide it.**

**Sighing, Valin walked over and sat on the stairs that were in front of the skyscraper. He sat there and sulked, he knew this was the right world but he didn't know his way around at all. He didn't know what to do now, so he just kinda sat there.**

Axel strolled along the Alley to Between. He emerged into the little square in front of the skyscraper (he could never remember the name of it) to see Valin sitting on the stairs looking rather dejected.

**Valin didn't take notice of Axel, he was to busy being sad. He wasn't taking any notice of his surroundings, actually. Well, he perked up when a bunch of Shadows came out of nowhere and surrounded him. **

Axel saw the Heartless grouping around Valin and groaned. He sprang into the battle, easily dispatching the Shadows before they could get to the elemental.

"**Axel! Who… what… were those anyway?" Valin was happy to see Axel, but he was now very confused. He doesn't know what Heartless or Nobodies are, they never appeared in his home world. The reason they never appeared in his world is that, well, there's this magical barrier thing that keeps things from entering. Actually, Valin hasn't been home recently because of it.**

"Heartless. Just know that they're enemies. Anyways, I imagine you're here looking for your headband?" Axel smiled at him.

"**You know where it is?" Valin had cheered up a good bit now, he looked so hopeful now.**

Axel nodded. "I've been keeping it in my room. I was wondering when you'd get back." He summoned up a portal. "Come on."

**Valin hesitated entering the portal. "What kind of portal is that? I don't think I've ever seen one quite like it before." Valin was getting goosebumps, that much he knew.**

Axel frowned. "I'm not entirely sure. It's a… nothing portal, I guess… We use them all the time. Don't worry."

"**Well, if you say so." Valin followed Axel into the portal. They arrived in Axel's room, and the door was wide open. "Why, exactly, is the door currently open? I thought you kept it closed."**

Dashing quickly to his closet, Axel flung the door open and ducked inside. He began cursing violently.

"**Axel? Is something wrong?" Valin said as he walked over to the front of the closet. It looked almost as though someone had come in and tossed some stuff around. The door to the room was still wide open at this point, and Valin didn't hear any footsteps in the hallway either.**

The pyromaniac was sorely tempted to light something on fire. "It's Xigbar… he's been snooping around ever since you last… erm, visited. He must have snuck in and found the headband!"

"**Oh… is he that guy who wouldn't give it back last time?" Valin didn't know anybody's name except Axel's, for the simple reason he never heard any of their names or anything. **

"**Hey, Axel, can I have my sitar back?" Demyx yelled as he burst in through the open door. **

Axel tackled him and clapped a hand over his mouth. "Keep your big mouth shut or you'll never see your sitar again." he whispered in the Melodious Nocturne's ear. Demyx hurriedly nodded. Axel released him and stood up. He offered his hand to the downed Nobody.

Demyx took it warily, sure that Axel was about to pull some practical joke on him. But no, the pyromaniac Nobody just pulled the other to his feet. Axel smiled. "I'll give you your sitar back now if you promise to help us." Demyx grinned back. "I don't know why you're being so generous, but okay!" Axel pulled the sitar from under his bed and tossed it to its owner. "Go get Roxas." he ordered. Demyx nodded and hurried out.

"**Who was that? And who's Roxas? Hope you don't mind me asking." Valin was standing in a corner, away from the door.**

"No, it's fine," Axel reassured him. "That was Demyx. He's one rank below me in the Organization and I… well, enjoy torturing him. But we could use his help. Xigbar is second-in-command, so he's pretty powerful… anyways, Roxas is my best friend. He's number thirteen."

"**Oh, okay then. What's with the numbers?" Valin had the curiosity of a child, then again he technically is a child. Sure, by human years he is one hundred years old, but for an elemental that makes him a child.**

"That's basically the order in which we joined the Organization," Axel explained, "But it also usually denotes the order of command, too. Although, Saïx is number seven, but he's such a kiss-up that he's kind of the second-in-command. Especially since Xigbar acts so juvenile."

"**Oh… say shouldn't we close the door before someone else walks by?" **

Axel nodded. "Yeah." He walked over and poked his head out into the hall. Axel stood back for a moment to let Roxas and Demyx in, then closed and locked the door. He quickly explained the situation to the other Nobodies, who agreed to help.

_Luckily, Demyx thinks it was Axel who set his cloak on fire, rather than Valin._

_**The first time that is, this is reference to the first story.**_

"**Sooo… how exactly is this going to work? Do we even have the slightest clue as to what our plan is?" Valin sounded smart for a ten-year-old boy, but as said before he is not ten years old. "Oh, by the way… sorry about the hole I made last time."**

Axel grinned evilly. "No worries. It's in the wall of Xigbar's room, so…"

"**No wonder he most likely hates me. Then again, setting off explosives in the hallway isn't exactly a good first impression." **

Demyx and Roxas stared at him and exclaimed simultaneously, "That was you?" Demyx started hysterically laughing while Roxas explained, "We all thought it was Axel! He likes to set off explosions… he's kinda a pyromaniac."

"**Yeah, it's kind of my fault that the whole mess happened the other day." Valin rubbed the back of his head. He could hardly see anything with all of his hair in front of his face.**

Axel punched the air triumphantly. "I **told** you it wasn't my fault!" He turned to Valin. "Out of curiosity, what did happen?"

**Valin started to explain "Well… I came across this emo person in the hallway…"**

Just then, Zexion broke through the door. He glared daggers at Valin and yelled, "I AM NOT EMO!!!!!" He spun and stormed out. Roxas calmly got up and replaced the door, then turned to the others. All four stared at each other for a moment, then the entire room burst out in hysterical laughter.

**After the laughter subsided, Valin finished explaining what had happened. Those who have read the last story know all about that hilarious incident. "Also, I'm not human. I probably should have said that sooner."**

Roxas and Demyx glanced at each other. Roxas grinned. "We kinda guessed that. Most humans don't have pink hair… and besides, you got your horn stuck in the wall, remember?"

"**Yeah, kinda hard not to. And I'm certain that I saw someone else with pink-ish hair the other day…"**

Demyx snorted. "That would be Marluxia. We're not sure if he's human or not, to be honest. He's… well… he's obsessed with flowers and carries a pink scythe. He's teased by everyone in the Organization."

"**Well, I was teased a lot back home to. That is, until that one day…" Valin shook his head, he preferred not to remember that horrible event. "Having bright pink runs in my family. Only with the boys, don't know why."**

Roxas nodded. "Something about bright pink hair just invites people to push your buttons. Anyways, what was this about Xigbar stealing a headband?"

"**I had left my headband here a few days ago; I came to get it back. Only to discover it had been taken. That headband is important to me; it's all I have left of my family and home." Valin started to look a little sad again, he actually had never told anyone about what had happened that day, because he never had a reason to tell anyone before.**

Roxas held up a hand. "Say no more; your past is yours to tell or keep to yourself. We'll help you get it back, right Demyx?" The Melodious Nocturne nodded.

"**Right… so what's the plan? We need a plan." Valin looked over at Axel, who had been silent for the past few minutes.**

Axel grinned. "I have just the plan. Demyx, you run in and start singing; I don't care what, just sing at the top of your lungs. Then, I will come in and pin him down. We'll get the headband out of him somehow!"

"**Wait, last time I heard him sing my eardrums felt like they were going to explode… and what am I supposed to do anyway?"**

"You just come in and transform and look scary. Roxas will help you stay balanced." Axel informed him. "Now, let's go!" He stopped them before they all dashed out and handed out earplugs. THEN they moved out.

The plan went just as they had intended. If anyone's wondering, Demyx decided to sing the Numa Numa song, which succeeded in driving Xigbar to the ground writhing in pain.

Once Axel had Xigbar pinned by the throat to the wall and Valin had an exploding bead aimed at him, Axel finally asked, "Where's the headband?" Xigbar grinned. "I don't have it!" Axel held the point of his free chakram to the Nobody's neck. "I'll ask you one more time: where is it?" The Freeshooter stopped laughing and turned completely serious. "I don't have it." Axel thought for a moment. "Then where did you hide it?"

Xigbar held up his hands placatingly. "I haven't seen it since that fiasco the other day, when you kicked me and took it." Axel stared hard at him, then nodded. He kneed Xigbar in the stomach, then let the Freeshooter fall to the floor and turned to the others. "Then who does have it?"

To be continued…

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_Wow, we must really be feeling evil tonight. Two cliffies. Muhahahaha! This time the prize for guessing correctly is… a Poptart and Spork Patrol official T-shirt! Muhahahahahahaha!_

_**And those who guessed correctly last time, you can have a cookie now! At least, you could if we hadn't blown up the kitchen. Speaking of which… we never did put out that fire…**_


	4. Explosions KABOOM

Disclaimer: Neither me nor Tiger own anything recognable as anything other than our messed up minds. Valin is Tiger's. Thought I'd get that out there.

Reminder: bold is Tiger, normal is Russa. italics is us, normal is the story. Enjoy!

* * *

_**The quest for the headband continues, hoorah. **_

**Valin placed the bead back into his pocket and changed back to human form. "Now what?" He looked around the room; the hole he had made was still there. No attempt had been made to cover it up by the looks of things.**

Axel thought hard. "The only other person who would risk having their room set on fire by invading mine would be… Saïx! I'll bet he took it! He was really mad at me for causing that fiasco and making him look like a fool in front of Xemnas. I bet he took it and gave it to the Superior, the kiss-up!"

"**But I'm the one who started that whole mess, not you." Valin looked through the hole, mostly out of boredom. There was somebody in the hallway, but they just went into the room that no longer had a door. "So, now how do we get it back?"**

Axel shrugged. "I don't… wait a sec! Yeah, I know a way! Okay, listen up! Vexen is usually experimenting around this time. I'm gonna go over there and mess up his experiment. Usually that'll cause an explosion big enough to get Xemnas down to sort it out. Once you hear me yell 'I didn't do it!', run for his room. Roxas and Demyx will show you the way. You're going to have to find it on your own; I can't think of any way to find out where it is ahead of time."

"**Explosion? I can do that…" Valin said as he tossed one of his beads up and down. He also pulled out a slingshot from his pocket, which he used to shoot the beads considerable distances. Valin has really good aim too. "Just tell me how big we need it."**

Axel shook his head. "Nah, I like messing up Vexen's stuff. I can do this, easy. However, if there is no explosion within, oh, say half an hour, feel free to let off a big one."

**Valin nodded and placed his slingshot back in his pocket. "Right, so let's give it a try. What's the worst that could happen?"**

Shaking his head at Valin's naivety, Axel headed over to Vexen's room. He grinned when he saw Vexen was indeed conducting an experiment. He crept along, crouched, to where the Chilly Academic was carefully measuring out a chemical above his beaker. Axel leapt up behind him, gave him a little shove, and yelled, "Heeeeellllllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooo Vexen!"

Boom.

Xemnas appeared over the heads of the two soot-blackened Nobodies. "Alright, what happened here?" he demanded. Axel looked up at him, grinned cheekily, and yelled, "I didn't do it!"

"**That's the signal, how much time do you think we have?"**

Roxas and Demyx had broken out in hysterical laughter, but quickly got control of themselves. "Oh, about an hour. Xemnas has to tell off Axel first and start repairing the damage. Xemnas' room isn't that big; he spends most of his time staring at Kingdom Hearts from the Altar of Naught. Let's go!" Roxas opened a portal and stepped through. Demyx motioned to Valin, then followed.

**Valin followed them both, they were right about the room being small. It was also messy, very messy. They began to search, and fifty-eight minutes later they still hadn't found it. "Is it even in here? How do we know he doesn't have it with him?" **

**Turns out they had only 59 minutes to search.**

Xemnas had Axel's arms held tight behind him. The Superior steered him through a portal into his room, where he was astonished to find three intruders. Axel tore free of Xemnas's grip and dove into the piles of junk. Curling around the object of his search, he yelled, "Valin, time for a boom!"

"**One explosion, coming up!" Valin yelled as he threw not one, but ten of his exploding beads into the air. "Fire in the hole!" He yelled as they all exploded at the same time. The explosion was only slightly more devastating than the one that had occurred earlier.**

Roxas and Demyx threw themselves to the side, curling into tight balls.

BOOM!

Valin looked around. There were three black cloaked, soot-covered bodies getting up from the floor. The piles of junk were completely gone. However, apart from being covered in soot, the furniture was undamaged.

Axel saw his look of surprise and laughed. "Oh, this happens all the time. Everything sedentary in this castle is completely fireproof. That's what happens when you live with a pyromaniac who has control over fire. Oh, here you go." He held out Valin's headband.

"**Thanks… where was it?" Valin was about to fit it back on his head, only to discover that the fireproof band was broken. As he started to examine this, the rest of the band itself just fell off. All that remained was the stone itself, which Valin just kinda stared at, emotionless. He shrugged as he put it into his other pocket; not the first time that had happened either. Valin still didn't know how unwelcome he was in the castle, nor that he was most likely in serious trouble now.**

Axel grabbed his shoulder and whispered, "Time to go." The pyromaniac summoned up a portal and steered the elemental through it.

They reappeared just outside the castle; the Brink of Despair. Axel gave Valin a little push in the opposite direction. "It's time you left. I'll see you around, alright?"

"**What's with the hurry? It's not like we're in any danger or anything." Valin was now once again his cheery self, which was to be expected. As usual, Valin was blissfully unaware of the danger he could be facing.**

Axel nodded. "Yeah, no danger… anyways, see you. I'll say bye to the others for you."

"**Right, well… see you around then." Valin watched as Axel left, he turned around to start on his way somewhere when somebody grabbed him from behind, he couldn't tell who just somebody. They had grabbed his wrists and were holding them together, and the other hand was over his mouth. Obviously, he had to bite that hand that was over his mouth, or at least try to. They had gloves on, grrr… the biting wasn't going to work. The squirming didn't help either.**

_**guess who it is and get a piece of charcoal, that was originally a cookie!**_

_Hehe, I didn't know who it was, but now I do… shall I give you a hint. He's such a k-u_

**Valin continued to squirm as Saïx pulled him through another portal. Valin attempted to stomp on his foot, only to find that it only hurt his foot. Then he got and idea, he stomped on the foot again this time changing just his foot to fit his true form. The claw did pierce the shoe, and apparently a toe. Valin was shoved onto the ground, actually more thrown than shoved, as he heard Saïx scream in pain. Valin's foot became a human foot again. **

Axel heard Saïx's scream and hurried to find out what was going on. He also wanted to know what exactly was happening… so he could do it himself later.

**Valin didn't have much time to get up and catch his breath or anything, Saïx had already stopped screaming and had restrained Valin again; this time making sure to avoid the feet. The door to the room is locked, by the way. The stone had fallen out of Valin's pocket at this point, but it kinda slid along the floor and ended up under the bed, so nobody noticed.**

Axel pounded on Saïx's door, yelling, "What is going on in there?"

_For those who are wondering why my parts are so short right now, it is because it is 4 in the morning, I have serious heartburn (or something) and as such am forced to type with one hand while lying on my stomach, and I am really really tired._

"**It is no business of yours, go away." Saïx yelled over his shoulder, still trying to secure the squirming Valin. **

The Luna Diviner pulled out a random roll of duct tape and taped Valin's wrists together behind his back. He also taped the elemental's mouth shut.

**At this point Valin got another clever idea; his beetle shell appeared on his back and he opened it with a considerable amount of force. Saïx ended up ramming against the door, not enough to break it or anything, but enough to make a loud crashing sound. Valin's shell vanished again, he leaned on a wall as he attempted to catch his breath.**

**This didn't last long, needless to say. Hopefully there wasn't anyone attempting to sleep currently anywhere in the hallway; there was either the sound of something falling over or someone ramming into something.**

_Just for anyone who was wondering, I am now feeling better and am not tired, though I will be later, due to the fact that it is 11 or so am right now. And yes, we did actually go to sleep… for about four hours… hehe._

Axel heard the thud against the door and knocked hard. "Saïx, open up or I'll burn it down."

_Despite the fact that there is a resident pyromaniac, Xemnas has still not figured out that they need metal doors._

When the door still didn't open, Axel lit it on fire. He watched with glee as the flames spread onto Saïx, who had been leaning on the other side of the door.

**Valin watched as first the door, then slowly anything not fireproof in the room, caught fire. Luckily, Valin was not caught in any of the flames. Just because he's part fire elemental doesn't mean he's immune to it; in fact it hurts just as much. **

Axel poked his head inside the now scorching hot room. He spotted Valin, hands and mouth duct-taped, leaning on the wall nearby. He grabbed the elemental's arm and yanked him out. Axel summoned up a portal that led out of the World That Never Was. He dragged Valin forcibly through the darkness, which eventually opened up into the Crystal Fissure in Radiant Garden.

**Valin finally got the duct tape off his wrist, at which point he quickly ripped the one over his face off forcefully. Valin has not had any past experience with duct tape, and there were red marks now where the tape had been. "What was that about anyway?" He rubbed his wrist in pain, then he checked his pocket, only to find it empty.**

"**Hu?" Valin checked his other pockets, his stone was gone… again. "Oh no!"**

Axel groaned and smacked his forehead. He walked over to the wall of the fissure and began beating his head against it forcefully.

**Valin asked his question again, "Seriously, what was that all about back there? I thought they wanted me to leave?" Valin was still digging through his pockets, just to double check.**

Axel continued ramming his head against the wall for another moment before he answered. "Saïx is a complete kiss-up; I'm sure he wanted to turn you in to Xemnas. Trust me, that would not end well."

"**Hey, I do know how to fight. I have had to defend myself from worse creatures back home, I know some rather devastating spells." Valin had a good point, but he would only turn that violent if he really needs to. "I've defeated monstrous creatures that can rip the soul straight out of one's body, with a couple of close calls myself."**

Nodding absentmindedly, Axel informed him. "You haven't seen anything of Xemnas's real power. You could probably equal him, but factor in Saïx and Xaldin, and you'd be beaten. No offense meant." he added hastily.

"**I need to get that soulstone back, nonetheless." Forget the fact Valin never bothered to explain what a soulstone was; he'll get around to it eventually though. I think.**

Axel sighed. "It's in Saïx's room most likely, considering. Alright… wait here. I'll go get Demyx, Roxas… probably Xigbar; he loves irritating Saïx." Muttering to himself, Axel left through his portal.

"**Wait, but…" Valin started, but Axel was already gone. Valin sighed and sat down against the wall, nothing much for him to do now, except wait. **

Sora and Riku were having one of their many races along the routes of Radiant Garden. They had come to visit Merlin and co. and had gotten bored. So now they were racing. Riku, as usual, was ahead. As he turned into the Crystal Fissure, he ground to a halt. Sora ran into him from behind. Both sprawled out on the ground, laughing.

**Valin looked up at the two boys as they laughed. "What's so funny?" Valin's hair was blocking his eyes for the most part, he could really use a new band or something. **

_**Note: as far as everyone else knows Valin is just some ten year old kid with apparently no means of defense, and pink hair.**_

Riku and Sora managed to get control of themselves after about two more minutes of hysterical laughter. Around wheezes, Sora asked, "Why is your hair pink?"

_In case you haven't noticed yet, we like to make people fall down. And wheeze. A lot._

Meanwhile, Axel, Roxas, Demyx, and Xigbar were sneaking down the hall towards Saïx's room. Axel tapped Xigbar and pointed at the doorway. "Have fun!" he whispered with a malicious grin.

The Freeshooter laughed and teleported inside. He reappeared upside down in front of Saïx, who had just now managed to put the fires out.

"Boo!" he yelled, firing off a loud round of shots.

"ARGH! XIGBAR! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT?" Saïx yelled. Xigbar turned himself right side up and fled the room, laughing hysterically. The Luna Diviner chased after him, claymore held in one hand. "Slow down Xigbar; I only want to hurt you!"

Axel, Roxas, and Demyx snickered at the sight, then snuck into the now-empty room and began to search.

Back in Radiant Garden:

**Valin still sat there, getting rather annoyed at the fact he was being laughed at. Finally fed up with this whole mess, Valin stood up and glared at them. Not that he looked threatening or anything, you couldn't even see his eyes. "So I have pink hair, big deal! It's not like I have a choice of what color my hair happens to be!"**

**_Valin is incapable of changing his hair color, because if he did it would just turn pink again. It's fun to torment characters with our all-mighty authoress powers… I am now grinning evilly at this moment._**

Sora stood up, finally in control of his laughter. "Sorry," he apologized, "You'd think we were used to strange hair colors by now, but…" Riku nodded his agreement.

"**What, bright-pink hair is just too strange for you?" Valin was still upset, and still couldn't really see past his hair. He needed a new band to keep it out of his eyes. Valin used his hand to hold his long bangs out of his eyes so that he could see who he was talking to. "By the way… who are you two?"**

"Nah, pink hair is fairly normal around here." Riku said, "It was just a combination of the hair color and the fact that it's all over your face." Sora frowned at his friend. "Let's start over," he suggested to Valin, "I'm Sora, and this is Riku."

"**Well… I'm Valin. Now if you don't mind, I'm kinda waiting for someone." Valin was not in a good mood right now, if you haven't already figured that out. He let his hair fall back over his eyes as he sat back down with his back against the wall.**

Sora plopped down next to him and grinned. "Well, we'll wait with you." Riku nodded and leaned against the wall on the other side of Sora.

"**I'd rather wait alone, if you don't mind." Valin stood up and began to walk away, but as he did so he ran into one of the giant crystals that where sticking out of the ground. What do you expect, he can't see past his hair at the moment. Valin fell over backwards after the collision and was now looking upwards. "Ow…"**

Sora chuckled to himself, walked over, and helped Valin up. "Why? Look, I know we were kinda mean before, but at least let us make it up to you." Riku just nodded.

"**Oh really? How, exactly, do you plan to do that?" Valin brushed the dust off of his oversized shirt and pants. **

The Keyblade Master smiled. "By keeping you company while you're waiting… Uh, who are you waiting for, anyway?"

"**I'm waiting for a friend of mine, and as I said before I'd rather wait for them alone." Valin crossed his arms and turned away from Sora, he didn't want to talk right now.**

Just then, Axel, Roxas, and Demyx appeared in the fissure. Axel started to say something to Valin, but stopped at the sight of Sora. "Hi, Sora." he said.

**Valin cheered up and ran over to Axel. "Hi Axel!" He yelled out as he caught him in a tackle-hug. **

He knocked them both over.

Axel pushed the pink-haired boy off and stood up, brushing the dirt off of his cloak. Behind him, Roxas and Demyx teleported away.

_Sora and Roxas have this deal worked out. Roxas goes back to the Org during peacetimes, but merges with Sora when Sora has to battle people._

**Valin now sat on the ground smiling happily, cause that's what Valin does. **

Sora grinned at Axel. "Hey, Axel."

_Sora already knows that Axel reformed after KHII. So he's not like, "How come you're not dead?" Or something like that._

The Keyblade Master gestured at Valin. "I suppose he was waiting for you?" Axel nodded. "Why?" Sora asked.

"**He told me to wait here, that's why." Valin was back to being his cheery self now, and still had a big smile on his face. Valin doesn't need sugary treats to make him hyper and silly and stuff.**

Axel sighed. "Let me explain: I was walking in the forest and I heard this noise…

_Day, night, day, night, day, night, day, night_

"… and now I'm back. Got it memorized?" Sora, eyes wide and blank, nodded slowly. "Sure… so, did you find the stone?"

Axel grinned. "Sure did!" He pulled the little stone out of an inner pocket and held it out to Valin.

"**Thank you Axel!" Valin said as he placed the stone into his pants pocket. **

"Sure…" Axel summoned up a portal and started to leave through it, but turned back to tell Valin, "If you ever want to come back, don't come directly into the castle. Wait for me in the Alley to Between. I go there about once a day." With that, he turned and left.

Sora watched him go, then beckoned to Valin, "Cummon, I want you to meet everyone else." He and Riku headed off in the other direction along the Crystal Fissure.

"**Hey, wait for me!" Valin wasn't a very fast runner. **

_**As far as Sora and Riku know, Valin is human. We all know that Valin is not human at all. But they don't know that, so don't tell them.**_

They walked off towards the town.

_The end. Yes, it's the end of this one… Stay tuned for more!_

**_I am grinning evilly again… causing chaos is fun…_**

_We shall create more chaos in the next story! Byeeeee!_


	5. To Merlin's House!

Disclaimer: We don't own anything remotely recognizable as anything... cept Valin. Tiger owns him.

* * *

_**Muahaha, it is time to cause… chaos! (is currently twitching, don't worry twitching for me is normal) Causeing chaos is fun… I'm sorry, but we're getting dog hair all over your computer… X3 (that is a kitty face)**_

_It's okay. I get cat hair on it all the time. I am busy drawing chibi Axel yay!_

… _**Yeah, good luck with that. We all know that my sister's chibi-Axel is better than anything we could ever try to draw.**_

_Yeah, well… this is the first time I've ever drawn chibi anything so I can dream… Axel's hair is on fire hehe…_

_**We should stop rambling about random stuff and start actual writing the story. **_

_My chibi story is interesting. Well, what's gonna happen?_

_**You'll see, it's not like we have a plot or anything. (Is grinning evily)**_

"**Hey, c'mon guys! I said wait up!" Valin yelled after Sora and Riku; he had slowed them down a lot. They had just made it back to the Bailey, which was still a pile of rubble and stuff. **

Sora and Riku obligingly stopped and waited for him to catch up. Again.

**Valin stopped for a bit as he caught up, his legs hurt. "How much farther do we have to run now…?" **

Sora grinned. "Not too far. Just up this rubble, down some stairs, and through a few back alleys." With that, he and Riku jogged off again, winding back and forth up the rubble.

**Valin moaned as he started to climb straight up the rubble. He reached the top before Sora or Riku, so he took the extra time to sit on the ground and rest his legs. **

The aforementioned boys jogged up, said, "Oh, Valin, you're here already." and continued on.

"**Hey, wait up!" Valin onec again yelled after them as he tried his best to keep up.**

_**This scene is boring. Let's have something random happen to remove the boringness.**_

_OKEYDOKEY!_

Demyx appeared in front of them and strummed on his sitar. "Surprise concert!" he yelled. He then proceeded to sing:

"Tra-la-la boomdeeyay, did you get yours today? I got mine yesterday; That's why I walk this way!"

"I'm not wearing underwear today. No, I'm not wearing underwear today! Not that you probably care much about my underwear, still nonetheless I gotta saaaaaaaaay: That I'm not wearing underwear to-daaaaaaaaay!"

He started to sing something else, but a random girl appeared, yelled, "Demmy!" and promptly glomped him. They disappeared in a poof.

Everyone still present had the same look on their face: o.O

Sora was the first to say anything. "Okaay…"

**Valin was twitching; he had only just caught up too. Right now though, he was just twitching. If only he had kept those earplugs, if only. "I think that a small part of me just died…"**

They stood there in a stupor until a voice rang out from their left. "Are you guys coming today?" It snapped Riku and Sora out of their daze. Sora turned to where the voice had come from; a red-haired girl was standing there, waving at them. Sora waved back. "Be there in a sec, Kairi!"

**Valin was still standing there, twitching. He was still stunned from Demyx's earlier performance.**

Sora grabbed Valin and forcibly propelled him towards Kairi. The girl stared at the pink-haired boy. "Uh, Sora, any particular reason your friend here is staring into space and twitching?"

Sora sighed. "Don't ask. He'll be fine soon."

**Know what, propelling somebody forward isn't always the best of ideas. Valin returned to normal as he hit the ground. He hit the ground with a thud, face down. "…ow… I'm okay, I think… Say, my nose is bleeding… is that bad?"**

Sora quickly cast Curaga, then helped Valin up. "Sorry."

"**Not the first time something like that has happened, don't worry 'bout it." Valin now had a big smile on his face as usual. **

Sora shrugged. "Okay…" He glanced around to see that Riku and Kairi had already gone. "Follow me," he told Valin, and headed off towards Merlin's house.

"**Say, wait for me!" Valin yelled as he stumbled after Sora. Again. **

Sora stopped and waited for the pink-haired boy to catch up. He made a point of walking at Valin's speed until they reached Merlin's house.

"**So, where are we going exactly?" Valin was walking next to Sora, just barely though. They were actually already there, but Valin couldn't tell. What do you expect, he can't see past his hair at all right now.**

The Keyblade Master grinned. "Uh, we're here." He pushed the door open, gesturing Valin inside.

"**Where exactly is here?" Valin started to walk inside, pushing the hair out of his eyes. When he caught sight of Merlin, he turned around almost immediately to leave. **

Sora caught his shoulder before he could go anywhere. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.

_The people inside haven't noticed them yet, just so you know._

"**Um, nothing nothing's wrong…" Valin replied in a quiet, timid voice. He was obviously afraid of something, of what and why you most likely don't know. **

Sora glanced back inside, then pulled Valin around and out of sight of anyone inside the house. "Then where are you going?" he asked.

**Valin didn't have an answer ready to that, "Err… umm…" He rubbed the back of his head and stared at his feet. There wasn't exactly an easy way to explain why he was so afraid.**

Sora waited patiently for Valin to explain.

**Valin wasn't going to explain. He wouldn't have had enough time either, after all they had left the door wide open and an open door is normally something you would think people notice.**

_**You'd think… Arg, the dogs get loose every time someone forgets to forgets to close the door. … what I said just now made no sense what so ever…**_

Kairi poked her head out of the door. "You coming in, Sora?" The Keyblade Master waved her off. "In a minute, Kairi. Close the door." The redhead shrugged and went back in. The door slammed shut.

Sora turned back to Valin. "Now, what's wrong?"

"**I told you, nothing's wrong. I'm fine…" Valin turned to start walking off, (as he turned his hair temporarily didn't block his eyes) only to come face to face with a bunch of heartless. With that Valin fled into the house. **

Sora stared after him for a moment, then shrugged, killed all the Heartless, and followed him in.

_**Inside Merlin's house, yayness!**_

**Valin still had that terrified look in his eyes, which was not normal. He was whimpering slightly… something about not wanting to die, or muffins… it was hard to tell.**

Sora glanced concernedly at him, then shot a "not now" look at Yuffie, who looked as if she was about to say something. The Keyblade Master quickly grabbed Valin's shoulder and steered him past everyone and up the stairs.

_Yeah there are stairs in Merlin's house now. And more rooms. It was too small before._

He steered the whimpering boy into an empty bedroom. Sitting Valin down on the bed, Sora locked the door behind them. He turned to Valin. "They won't bother us now. Tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can help."

**Valin shook his head. "I told you before, there's nothing wrong." Valin had calmed down a good bit now. He still wasn't about to tell Sora why he had been so terrified earlier. **

Sora sighed. "Well, you're obviously not okay here. What do you plan to do?"

"…**What exactly do you mean by that?" Valin had gotten up to look out the window (yes, there is a window there). It was a little hard for him to see out, he was a little short and stuff. And his hair was still in his eyes. So he held his hair out of his eyes with one hand and had his other hand on the window still to prop himself up a bit. He hadn't been to this town before, he could probably pull pranks on a good bit of people here. **

The Keyblade Master grabbed Valin's shoulder to get his attention. "I mean that if you're that uncomfortable here, and you won't tell me why, maybe it's best you don't stay."

"**I'm not uncomfortable here, don't be silly." Valin was still looking out the window. "Besides, if I had wanted to leave I already would have."**

"Okay, so that whimpering downstairs was just a one-time thing? Because, generally, comfortable people don't whimper."

"… **that? Nah, I don't do that much at all. I get over stuff like that faster than you might think…" Valin dropped back down from the window and the stone he had in his pocket fell out again. **

"Okay…" Just then, a knock came at the door. Sora walked over and opened it. Merlin was there. "I say, Sora, is everything all right?"

**Valin had picked up the stone and was still holding it in his hands, when he caught sight of Merlin (again) he screamed out the words "Arg, don't kill me!" and stumbled backwards into the corner of the room. Whimpering again.**

"Are you alright, my boy?" Merlin asked Valin, a concerned look on his face. The wizard's brow furrowed for a moment. "Ah, but you're not just a boy, are you? No matter, the question is the same; are you alright?"

**It was a little difficult to hear Valin's reply, his voice was weak again. "please don't kill me mister wizard sir… please don't kill meeee…"**

_Sora is very confused…_

Merlin smiled kindly. "My dear boy, why would I try to kill you?"

"**Th-that's what wizards and other human spell-casters used to do to my kind back home…" Valin had a tight grip on the soulstone he had in his hands. He was still shaking.**

"You know, just because wizards did one thing wherever you came from doesn't mean we do the same here." Merlin said, not unkindly. "I myself have no intention of harming you."

"…**you aren't just saying that…are you?" Valin was looking up with puppy-dog like eyes. Not that you could tell though…his hair was kinda blocking his eyes. **

Merlin's beard waggled as he shook his head emphatically. "Of course not."

Sora went over and patted Valin's shoulder. "Merlin's one of the kindest people I know."

"**Really? How many people do you know?" Valin had stopped shakeing now. Though he appeard to now be calm, Valin never let his guard down. To tell the truth though, Merlin was the first wizard (or any sort of human spell caster) Valin had met.**

…_**okay, Sora knows magic…but he doesn't count…neither do the orgionization members because technically they're nobodys…not human…I'm just making up excuses right now…**_

_Blergee blee:3_

The Keyblade Master tried to count in his head, but soon lost track. "Er… a lot." he said with a sheepish grin and a shrug.

"**Well then…how many of the people you know are friends? Or are there to many to count of them to?" Valin was smileing cheerfully again. For the most part for him, Valin always treated his enemies like they were friends. Not that he has to many enemies…that he knows of. **

Sora nodded. "Almost everyone I meet is a friend…. not all, but most." He returned Valin's cheerful smile.

_**Know what…Valin really needs a haircut…or at least a new hairband to keep the hair out of his eyes…I mean headband…not hairband…meh not like there's much of a difference…**_

_**Meh…brain's being dead again…and Russa's eating all the popcorn! I want some popcorn to!**_

_Yeeesss… popcorn ish yummy… and you didn't write anything grrr…._

_**I know…but you made it hard to reply! Make it easyer to replyyyyyy…**_

_NEVAH! Unless… you want me to bring in another character… shifty eyes_

…_**I think that this is pretty much it for this chapter then…**_

_:P Fiiiine! End o' de chappie is now!_


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